An extraordinary computer circuit that can build itself has been developed by a team of European physicists. This invention can be a step forward towards the creation of self assembling computers. The unique work of developing an integrated circuit is published in this week’s Nature1.

Presently, the computer chips are made by engraving patterns on semiconducting wafers with the help of a combination of light and photosensitive chemicals.

To develop this unique chip, the scientists used long organic molecule with mobile electrons called quinquethiophene, which basically functions like a semiconductor. They then attached it to a long carbon chain with a silicon group at the end that functions like an anchor.  Following this, the scientists soaked the circuit board with preprinted electrodes into a solution of the new molecules.

The end result of the experiment was the discovery of the molecules that attached themselves to an insulating layer between the electrodes, forming bridges from one electrode to the next.

According to Dago de Leeuw, researcher at Philips Research Laboratories in Eindhoven, Netherlands, “We dump it in a beaker with a solution of the molecules, we take it out, we wash it, and it works. The nicest example is DNA.”

He further added, “Our genetic code provides a set of instructions that can be used to marshal molecules into an entire person, and researchers would like to come up with a similar set of compounds able to organize each other into circuits.”

He explained that the circuit which is completely self-assembling constitutes of molecules that are like little bricks.